-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Trayvon Martin . Michael Brown . Eric Garner . The list of names of black men killed by white men who have subsequently gone unpunished -- and in the case of Brown and Garner , untried -- continues to grow . In each of these cases , an ugly theme has been raised in defense of the perpetrators : The victims should have known better .

Why did Garner resist arrest ? Why was Martin wearing a hoodie ? Why did Brown not meekly get out of the street when ordered to by a police officer ? The reasoning goes that their deaths were triggered by their deeds ; they need to be held posthumously accountable for their conduct .

When it comes to the actions of their white killers , however , the accountability hawks fall suddenly silent .

In their eyes , accountability is apparently only for the dark-skinned -LRB- for being `` uppity '' or vulgar -RRB- , the poor -LRB- for failing to bootstrap themselves into success -RRB- , the recently immigrated -LRB- for failing to `` mainstream '' into American society -RRB- -- and , as we 've also seen , for women for failing to avoid sexual predators and LGBTs for being too blatant about their sexuality .

A flagrant new example of this `` accountability for thee , but not for me '' sensibility emerged last week , when New England Cable News reported that actor Mark Wahlberg -- one of Hollywood 's most bankable leading men , who scored a staggering $ 16 million paycheck for his turn as a heroic father and inventor in the most recent `` Transformers '' movie -- has petitioned Massachusetts for pardon of his brutal assaults on a pair of Vietnamese men , Tranh Lam and Hoa Trinh , while a teenager in Dorchester , Massachusetts .

The attacks were peppered with racial slurs ; he called Lam a `` Vietnam f*cking sh*t '' before smashing him in the head with a large club and knocking him unconscious , and he punched Trinh so hard that he left him blinded in one eye . He repeatedly referred to both men as `` slant-eyed gooks '' while he was being arrested . Wahlberg , who was 17 , was tried as an adult and served 45 days in jail for the crime .

In the application he filed to the state 's Advisory Board of Pardons , Wahlberg states that he has `` dedicated myself to becoming a better person and citizen so that I can be a role model to my children and others '' and that `` receiving a pardon would be a formal recognition that I am not the same person that I was . '' He claims that , despite his use of racist language , the race of the men was not a motivation for his crime , blaming instead the `` influence of alcohol and narcotics . '' -LRB- Wahlberg committed the assaults while seeking to steal two cases of beer from Lam 's convenience store . -RRB-

In a stroke of irony , he states that a major reason for seeking a pardon is the desire to expand his own burgeoning restaurant chain , Wahlburgers , whose licensing has been hampered by his record as a felon .

So , young Mark Wahlberg , who would just half a decade later rise to fame as a rapper and a crotch-grabbing underwear model under the name `` Marky Mark '' before successfully transitioning to acting , was let off with a trivial 45-day sentence after battering an Asian man until he was permanently handicapped . Three gold records , $ 200 million in wealth and untold fame and adulation later , he 's seeking absolution for his crimes , because , he writes , `` troubled youths will see this as an inspiration and motivation that they , too , can turn their lives around . ''

The unwritten phrase that should follow Wahlberg 's assertion : `` That is to say , so long as they 're white and their victims are not . ''

If a black , Hispanic or Asian youth under the influence of drugs and alcohol had put out a white man 's eye while trying to rob his store , it 's inconceivable that he would have been let off with such a light sentence ; implausible that he 'd have gone on to the kind of marquee stardom that Wahlberg has obtained ; unlikely that he would have the sense of unvarnished privilege that is driving Wahlberg 's desire for a whitewashing of his record , if you 'll pardon the pun .

According to The Boston Globe , to this day Wahlberg has never apologized or paid restitution to the victims of his crimes . He also has n't really acknowledged his pattern of bigoted language and racist violence , which included a separate episode in which he threw rocks at African-American schoolchildren while shouting that `` black n * ggers '' were unwelcome in his community .

And he has never reached out to the Vietnamese-American community or other communities of color with the kind of targeted charity and philanthropic presence befitting someone who was truly remorseful for the repulsive actions of his youth .

And that 's the most gut-wrenching aspect of Wahlberg 's request , coming as it does in the wake of the repeated , unpunished killings of young black men and teens at the hands of white men . The darkest reactions to the deaths of Martin , Brown and Garner described the victims as hardened , bestial and irredeemably corrupted by casual drug use or records of petty crime . They were , in the coded language of these commenters , `` thugs . ''

Meanwhile , Wahlberg , a wealthy white man with a more extensive criminal record than any of the black men mentioned above , has been described across mainstream media as a `` troubled '' youth who 's since made good .

In the wake of the grand jury 's decision not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo for the choking death of Garner , the hashtag #CrimingWhileWhite trended on Twitter , featuring hundreds of white people sharing how their infractions were dismissed by police , while in many cases black friends were prosecuted for the same offenses . I noted at the time that the hashtag was `` proof that there are two America : One that gets off with a wink . And one that just gets offed . ''

In that other America , white versions of Martin , Brown and Garner might well have gotten the chance to `` make good '' like Wahlberg ; they might be the ones seeking to redeem their youthful indiscretions .

Sadly , no amount of pardoning will resurrect the dead .

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Mark Wahlberg petitioned Massachusetts for pardon of his brutal assaults of two men

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Jeff Yang : There 's a double standard when we judge crimes committed by whites and blacks

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In the cases of Eric Garner or Michael Brown , we ask accountability from the victims

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Yang : With Wahlberg , he has n't even show true remorse for the repulsive actions of his youth